SlutWalk Protest At UConn Friday

September 28, 2011|Susan Campbell

It's not what you think.

Students at University of Connecticut's Storrs campus are organizing a SlutWalk that starts at 4 p.m. Friday on Fairfield Way outside the Student Union. The walk is a protest against victim blaming, and it sprang from an incident last spring in Canada, when a police constable told a group of law students that women should avoid dressing like "sluts" in order to avoid being victimized.

The officer later apologized, but students quickly organized a protest, pronounced it a slut walk, and the movement spread from Australia to Dallas to Spokane.

The Rape, Abuse, and Incest National Network says sexual assault is one of the more underreported crimes. Placing blame on the victim can have a disquieting effect for victims not prone to report the crime in the first place.

"The focus is on victim-blaming," said Venida Rodman Jenkins, coordinator of UConn's Violence Against Women Prevention Program, one of the sponsors of the event. "They have a clear message, and it's not about that word. We often envision a world without violence, and we have to keep moving forward with promoting efforts like this. We remain hopeful."

Walk co-sponsor Matt Tuscano, a senior from Wilton who is also a resident assistant, said 500 people have responded to the event's Facebook page.

"When I hear people's stories of the things they've gone through, I walk through those stories with them," Tuscano said. "I am doing this because I don't want to have to hear stories like that any more."